


kings and queens of promise

by eleutheria_has_won



Category: The Underland Chronicles - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Because of Reasons, F/M, Mainly just fluffy happy things everywhere, True Love, a love to build a better world from, because my babies deserve happiness, cute cute cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-12
Updated: 2013-11-12
Packaged: 2018-01-01 06:51:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1041676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eleutheria_has_won/pseuds/eleutheria_has_won
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the world they formed, out of blood and tears and time. They have built this world from the ground up, set the foundations themselves for something better, happier, more hopeful. This is the world they built, and they are content to live happily in it, to the end of their days.</p>
            </blockquote>





	kings and queens of promise

**Author's Note:**

> To be honest? It is one in the morning, homework what's that, I am pretty sure tomorrow is going to be well and truly hellish, I just wrote this to avoid working on NaNo and also to have warm fluffy happy feels. 
> 
> You're welcome.
> 
> Edit: Theoretically it's sort of underage? They're both over eighteen, and they're adults where they live, but whatever. It just mentions that they're married and sometimes do married people things. Don't worry be happy, friends.

He's nineteen years old; she just turned twenty. If they lived up in the Overland (he wrinkles his nose at the thought and shakes his head in fond dismay) they would still be considered children. People would judge them, or look down upon them, or dismiss them without hope of appeal.

Here, people _know_ them, as the two humans triumphant who led them bravely through an era of war and orchestrated a new era of peace, all before age thirteen. Even for the Underland, where children tend to grow up too quickly, that's young, but that's also a set of deeds which afford even a child a bit more consideration. Now, it's been half a decade, they haven't looked much like children for years, they haven't acted like children for some time before that, and they haven't been treated like children since even longer before that. He's heard that some have started to call them - and Ripred, and Lapblood, and Nike, and Howard, and Lizzie and Boots to a lesser extent, everyone who had a hand in what they now call the Peacemaker Accords - the Lights of the Underland. He thinks it's a bit weird and silly, but he's not about to shirk the respect that his role in the Old Wars gives him, which almost begins to make up for the all-consuming responsibility that comes from being a captain of the army and the best sword-fighting trainer in Regalia and a diplomat to the gnawers. Not to mention, you know:

Being King of the Underland.

Well, technically, his title isn't "King", and even if it were, it would only be of Regalia and maybe the Fount.

 _Technically_ , his title is "Lord Consort," which is what he, Luxa, and the council managed to decide on after the council raised a stink about an Overlander being King (they were the only ones who did), and they had to spend weeks in negotiations in order to pacify the council into accepting that yes, Queen Luxa had a mind of her own, and yes, she was going to marry the man she loved whether they wanted her to or not, and yes, a paltry little concession for the title Lord Consort was all they were going to get.

In every other way, though, Gregor is effectively royalty - of a sort. It's only an unofficial sort, which is why the council was pacificed, but it is still royalty, which is why they still grumble from time to time, to little to no effect. It's the sort of royalty where everybody in Regalia knows his name, be they human or gnawer, crawler or flier, nibbler or hisser or shiner or _who knows what else_ , because Regalia is a city for _all_ species, these days, even the ones no one has really talked to, heard from, or seen in decades, and they've come out of the woodwork to start forming alliances with this powerful new union of the Underland's warmbloods. It's the sort of royalty where, when he walks through the streets and markets, ordinary people call out familiar greetings to him, or friendly jibs (depending on their nature), and he answers in kind because these are his people and he knows each and every one of them, too. It's the sort of royalty where _anyone_ can approach him for justice or assistance or advice or just plain need, and they so often do, because he can help them; it's the sort of royalty where he finally, finally has the _power_ to help people; it's the sort of royalty where whether or not he wears a crown has nothing to with how he takes care of and watches over his people - _all_ his people.

He's okay with that. He's more than okay with that.

Because anything - _anything_ \- that lets him come home every night to Luxa and their city and their home and their bed and their burdens and their rings on each others' fingers and their life together, is all he's ever wanted.

He's nineteen years old (he had a birthday a little over six months ago, and he'd forgotten about until he received a surprise celebration from his sword trainees and half a day off to spend with Luxa); she just turned twenty (he chuckled and teasingly called her an old woman, and she smacked him for it with laughter in her eyes). There's another world up there that would look at them and see children, for good or ill.

Their world is their kingdom and each other. It is all they have ever really needed.


End file.
